Sleep to Dream
by RayShippouUchiha
Summary: Proud 3rd place Deadliest Sin Contest winner! Then he would have crushed her spark in his hands, watched her soul flicker and die as her life bled from her. Now though things had changed... Hiei/Kagome


For the Deadliest Sin Contest:

Prompt: Dusk/Dawn and Dream/Nightmare

Disclaimer: If I owned it I wouldn't need to write fan fiction.

Sleep to Dream

'Dear Kami-sama they were going to throw the child over.' That horror filled thought was all that could reverberate through her mind. Those ice cold bitches were going to pitch the child off the cliff-side, not for something he had done, no for something that they thought he would one day do.

They were condemning a child to death for no crime other than his own birth. He was no evil creation like Hakudoshi, sinister cruelness hidden behind an innocent and childlike façade. He was not wrongness and taint given shape like the babe Akago who manipulated hearts. He was simply a child who had the misfortune of being born into a world were mixed blood was bad blood, were opposites were meant to conflict not to balance.

'Surely,' she thought, 'surely these women realize that there is no punishment without an actual crime. That birth should not be a death sentence, and that the future is not a set thing. Surely they would come to their senses and spare that child, return him to the mother that even now cried out for him, to the twin whose heart was shattering at the inborn knowledge that her brother was in danger. Surely they were not this cruel?'

Praying that they would regain their senses she watched anxiously the proceedings around her. She watched as the mother pleaded with her elders for her sons return, watched as the girl babe cried as if her heart broke. Fear filled her at the sight of the other woman, the one holding the boy bundled and sealed within a thick cloth, approaching the edge of the cliff face. She saw as she tucked what appeared to be a pendant into his hand and her denial filled scream rent the air too late as she saw the woman loosen her grip, her fingers sliding apart as she murdered her best friends son.

Her feet grew wings upon their own free will, rushing her forward and hurling her over the cliff side a moment after the child passed the feet of his executioner and plummeted towards the earth. Desperately she tried to fall faster, to snatch his body from the air and pull him towards her. As if gravity itself obeyed her desperate plea she seemed to streak towards him at a greater speed until finally, finally her numb fingers grasped the cloth that bound him. With a great tug she propelled the bundle towards her, the binding falling free and untangling from around his form as they neared one another, freeing his body for the first time to her sight.

He was such a tiny thing, small and soft, yet his aura was fierce and intimidating. No matter though for he was still a child.

Her first thought as her eyes connected with his own crimson gaze was that no child just born, no infant just separated from its mother should hold such emotion. No child this age should hold such pain and anger, such immense hatred within himself. Her second was that no mere babe should produce a flame so hot, so searing that with barely a touch she could feel her skin begin to blister, the pain raking through her system till she wanted to hurl him from her to escape the fire.

She would do no such thing; she would not murder this child like those women. Instead, determination flared through her accompanied by a calm acceptance of her fate rising upwards and forcing back the pain. Though the flames would kill her if the fall did not, she would use her body to protect this child. Her death would give him a chance at the life they tried so callously to steal from him.

So grasping him gently by the hand she pulled his body into her own, wrapping her arms around his tiny form she curled herself around him, whispering soothing nothings into his ear, telling him to be strong and to live. To prove those women wrong, to decide his own destiny, and that he was beautiful. As his eyes gazed into hers and his flames wracked her body with pain, she knew in those moments that she had done the right thing. That this was what she had been meant to do. If given the chance to redo this moment, she would forever choose the same option, the same path.

It was the pain of the first tree-branch snapping against her back and severing her spinal column that jolted her awake.

Gasping she shot straight up in her bed, her clothes sticking to her sweat soaked body, the pain in her back a real and yet impossible truth. It was that dream again, the same she had had each night for a month now, the one that always happened the exact same way. The dream that she somehow knew she caused to happen the same way each night. Because no matter how much pain she felt, how badly she hurt upon waking, and how hot her dream flames were she knew she could never let that child fall alone.

She could not stand by and watch as an innocent was murdered.

So it was in this way that she awoke each morning, just as dawns first light appeared, her damp body growing chilled in the air that seeped through the window that she never seemed to remember opening and always forgot to close. Sighing she gathered her things and made her way towards the bathroom, free hand raking itself through her loose hair.

Dawns early morning light shone brightly through her uncovered window and she was suddenly struck with just how often pivotal moments in her life took place at such times.

She herself had entered this world, according to her mother, just as the last rays of light had disappeared from the sky, in those dusky moments of twilight as the world grew dim and night approach. Then her life, she could not help but think as she adjusted the bath water and watched the tub begin to fill itself, had ended in so many ways as the first tendrils of dawn had crept their way forwards across the horizon. So it was in moments like those that she could not help but look back onto the past and reflect on what had happened and what she knew was to come.

Absently as she stepped into the tub her hand rose to rub soothing circles against her chest, directly over her heart as she remembered that dawn, that cruel winter morning where everything had been torn from her.

——————

They had traveled far the day before. The weather was harsh, the winter devastating. Snow drifts had blocked their paths, forcing them to use precious energy to plow through them, the wind too wild and fierce to send Kirara to the sky. The villages they had passed through had been unable to offer shelter or food; times were too hard to afford such kindness to strangers when your own children hungered. Game had been scarce, nonexistent really, and they had lived off of the rapidly dwindling rations that she kept in her bag. They ate only what was necessary to keep their bodies active and moving towards InuYasha's Forest and Kaede's village.

She had eaten even less herself than the others, trying her hardest to see every extra crumb of food she could spare went to Shippou in a desperate attempt to keep him healthy and hypothermia free. She knew that if she and InuYasha had not found him so long ago that if he had managed to live, this winter without his parent's aide and protection would have been the death of him.

So they had trudged onwards, a slow and yet never halting procession through the snow storm that had become a blizzard. There was no hope to find shelter, their path forced them to cross a large and open section of land, their only hope was to keep going; to forge onward and try desperately to make it to the trees and then to safe ground.

They moved forward and gradually, bit by bit they gained ground until finally InuYasha's voice could be heard over the howling of the wind.

"There are trees up ahead! We've almost made it!"

Those words seemed to jolt them, to give their leaden limbs life as the prospect of shelter and a slightly warmer path lay ahead, and as such they pushed forward quicker than before, still exhausted and yet determined now to reach the goal that lay so close. Before long the wooded area was clear to all, not only the enhanced eyes of their leader. The wind that had haunted them all day seemed finally intent on giving them some relief as it slowly began to die down the closer they came to the forest.

Happy to be out of the direct path of the elements the group trotted into the forested area and heaved a collective sigh, each taking a moment to pause and observe their new surroundings.

"Perhaps," the voice of Miroku rent the strangely silent air in the forest as he glanced around himself nervously, his hands clenching the polished surface of his staff as he edged closer to Sango's exposed back, "we should not extend our stay here."

"What the hell monk, we just spent two days traveling through snow waist deep and you want us to hurry out of the only shelter we've managed to find and back into that shit?" InuYasha snapped, the bitter cold and desolate atmosphere affecting even him.

"InuYasha…" her soft and weary voice had broken through then, filled with the same apprehension that Miroku was displaying. "InuYasha, something isn't right here. It's too quiet, we're right at the edge of the trees and yet I can't see the clearing. This place is wrong." Fear had filled her then, an overwhelming sense of wrong and sickness had permeated the trees, filling the very air around them. "It feels like a cage…" She had whispered.

At those words the normally tanned individual seemed to pale and with a curse he sprung forward, wrenching her and the kit she carried to his side in a move so quick and surprising she could not stop the whimper of pain that left her as her arm twisted painfully, his panic loosening his control over his strength.

Miroku's strained voice was heard, barely a whisper, desperate not to attract the attention of an unknown assailant without the proper preparation, "Kagome's right, it is a trap, this forest is cursed. There is no life here, the trees themselves seem dead and all is unnaturally still…" His words were greeted with the echoing creak of branches and an explosion of snow somewhere towards their right.

Formation had fallen into place quickly, drilled into them by countless near death experiences. A circle was formed, no back left unprotected and no direction left unwatched. In the tangled folds of her hair Kagome could feel Shippou tremble in fear and exhaustion.

Sango scanned the area she could see, her warriors training at the forefront, pushing back the aching muscles and the fear, forcing the adrenalin in her body to build, giving her the strength she would need to protect her family. "We must flee here, quickly! The trees could shelter too many enemies, the snow hide too many traps. There is no safe place here, no neutral ground. "

They moved as one, a well oiled machine honed and perfected to save lives, no comrade left behind, no link forgotten, no side left unprotected. At a sprint they darted towards the tree line, so much further away than it should have been, running as quickly as they could through the snow. Yet as they neared it, as the outside world was just with in reach the snow once again exploded, this time the recognizable after effects of an all too familiar wind blade.

Kagura.

And upon the air, as if the wind itself was mocking them was an all too familiar voice.

"You fall so easily and helpfully into my traps InuYasha that sometimes I wonder why I even bother at all."

"Naraku! Show yourself you cowardly bastard!" InuYasha raved at the silent and still trees that surrounded them. Then seemingly without actually moving a figure came into sight.

"Temper, temper. No need to rush things, after all if one doesn't enjoy the small things in life then really what is the point?" His white cloaked form blended in to the surroundings if not for the long flowing black tresses that he had allowed to be escape from its folds. Both Kagura and Kanna stood at his sides.

"I have better things to do than sit around here and listen to your ass yap all night!" InuYasha declared.

"And what things are those dear hanyou, chasing your miko across the country? Or perhaps," his eyes seemed to cut in her direction, "you have other maidens to drive to their deaths?" His taunt was clear.

"Damn you!" With those words InuYasha, enraged by the implications of the statement flew across the forest floor Tessaiga drawn and raised to cleave Naraku's head from his shoulders. The others saw Kagura's hand twitch, the sign of a coming attack and screamed out a warning but it arrived too late. The wind sorceress cleaved the ground between the two apart, sending large amounts of snow and ice upwards, clouding the air and reducing visibility.

Suddenly a red blur was seen, cutting through the air InuYasha was thrown backwards, coming to a stop as he made contact with a tree, snapping the dead trunk in two. As he regained his footing the air cleared and no longer was it their group against three, for Naraku in all of his deviousness had summoned a cloud of apparitions under the cover of Kagura's attack.

Thus the battle began.

They fought bravely, valiantly, desperately. They tore through cloud after cloud of amassed youkai, ripping them apart with fang and claw, with sword and staff, with bow and arrow. Yet it seemed as if for every two they killed three more rose in its place, the flow seemed never ending, unstoppable and hopeless.

From her place upon the battle field, towards the back where she fired off arrows in a desperate attempt to cull the masses Kagome was struck with a sense of hopelessness unlike any she had ever felt. She gazed across the forest, her body moving on autopilot as her eyes took in the carnage around her. Blood pooled upon the snow, a crimson river across the icy flow of time, too much belonged to allies, too little to the enemy.

She knew in those moments, as Sango let loose another battle cry and set free the mighty Hiraikotsu that unless some miracle was bestowed upon them all would be lost.

They would not be done in by elaborate schemes and hidden betrayal. Just a single cage and an army of youkai. There would be no Kouga coming to the rescue, his tribe were too far away to send help even if he did have the men to spare. There would be no legendary alliances spanning Japan, no Aristocratic Assassin with Toukijin blazing cutting a swath through the battle field. They would fight here until the numbers overwhelmed them and they each in turn bled out upon the snow.

Naraku would win this battle, unite the jewel and destroy all that was good and pure in this world.

It was then that she did the unthinkable. Her bow slipped from boneless fingers as her legs collapsed, sending her crashing to her knees in the middle of the snowy war zone. Ignoring the cries of her friends and the desperate attempts by Shippou to get her to her feet she clasped her hands together and there kneeling in the blood of friend and foe she began to pray.

She prayed with a conviction that went beyond simple faith and need, she prayed with a desperation she was not aware that she possessed. She threw herself upon the mercy of the Kami and begged them to send help, something, any thing to turn the tide of this war and to help them save the future.

In those moments, hands clasped in prayer she felt a lifting of her soul, an unspoken answer and her eyes fluttered open as the loud resounding of first one heartbeat and then another filled the battle field.

Kanna and Kagura dropped writhing to the ground. Across the way her eyes connected with the child, the pale void that was barely distinguishable from the snow on which she convulsed, her face contorted with pain, the most expression she had ever shown. Then at once it seemed to flow away, her eyes flickering shut and her face smoothing, her cheeks filling with color and life for the first time. And when her lids lifted again Kagome knew that her prayer had indeed been answered. The tears that now overflowed Kanna's eyes were proof of the hearts that she and her sister had finally had returned.

No longer were they bound to a master that they hated, no longer were their emotions shackled and locked. They were free to choose their own paths. Moments passed as life visibly flowed into the smaller incarnation and those moments seemed to last an eternity as the two stayed connected at the eyes. Slowly Kagura and Kanna began to stand, staggering to their feet and steadying themselves. Then in a move as synchronized as any ever seen they turned as one upon Naraku and his masses. Kanna with powers backed by her new found rage and pain reaped the souls of all in her path and the wonderful feel of freedom lent strength to Kagura's wind as she slashed at Naraku himself.

"They're free! They don't follow Naraku anymore!" Kagome screamed out to her comrades across the area, they still too wary of a trick to give the two youkai aide.

The battle seemed to gain speed again in a flurry of motion after that. Kagome scrambled to retrieve her bow and quiver as the others unleashed attack after attack, taking into account new found allies and moving to work together as a team. So it raged on, the tide slowly turning with the addition of two new allies with the ability to kill in massive numbers and with Kagura able to gain control of some of the dead they quickly began to gain ground.

Then in a single moment of carelessness the tide turned completely. Naraku turned quickly to counter a vicious thrust from Miroku's staff and in those precious few moments Kagura struck a solid blow to the center of his back. The wind blade tore through his clothing bisecting the spider brand upon his back and in a flash of tainted purple the Shikon went flying, landing with a deceptively innocent thud atop the snow.

A sense of shocked awe was momentarily upon the battle as the Shikon truly came into play. And for a moment the screams of the jewel almost sent Kagome to her knees once again.

Such pain and anguish bled from the jewel, such sadness at its defiled state. It was a tangible voice inside her, begging for her to reunite it, to purify it and chase away the darkness. Like a child crying out for the mother it lost and loved so very much. She was too much a miko, too much a mother to ignore a cry like that; something so desperate and anguished drew at her soul to answer that cry with a soothing response of her own. So she rushed forward, eyes locked upon the tainted sphere as she pushed herself faster, ignoring the cuts and scratches that opened upon her skin as she sprinted through the host of youkai that stood before her.

Hands fumbling in her haste she desperately yanked the chain that held her miniscule portion of the jewel from around her neck. She would unite it and cleanse it as a whole, ending this horrible eating darkness that tormented the jewel. Then with a leap greater than any other she launched herself at the glittering sphere, praying in desperation to be the first one to reach it.

She wished to gather it into her hands, to heal it, to be the one to always protect it. She wished to always keep it from the harm and misuse it had faced in the past. It was with those thoughts in her heart that she laid hands upon Naraku's fragment of the jewel for the first time in so very long and with a deep breath slammed the two pieces together. The resulting shockwave had sent her flying across the clearing to land in a painful heap in the snow.

Dimly she watched from her place upon the ground as the jewel shone brightly where it hung suspended in the air. The battle and the toll her journey across the clearing had taken upon her body weighed heavily on her, exhaustion creeping its tempting fingers down her spine. Blood pulsed steadily from the myriad of wounds that littered her form and what little strength she had possessed was flowing away from her along with her life's blood. Even so a part of her was transfixed by the beautiful glow the Shikon emitted, such a soft pure light that it was hard at times to remember that it could cause so very much destruction.

Suddenly the jewel glowed brighter, a swathe of pure light engulfing the battlefield. The others watched dumbfounded as the remaining apparitions they battled against were turned to dust, their particles glittering in the snowy air. Naraku screamed loudly in denial, his power now cleaved down to less than a third of what it once was, and unaccustomed to the weakness that over took him fell heavily to the ground. Yet through it all Kagome's eyes stayed riveted to the jewel, its glowing overpowering her senses, filling her mind until she swore she could hear tinkering laughter in the air.

Vaguely she realized she could hear Naraku cursing them, his vile voice promising that they had not seen the last of him and then there was swoosh of air and then a dull thud, the smell of miasma once again overpowering all others for a brief moment and she somehow knew that InuYasha had finally taken the torturous hanyou's head. She could not find grief inside herself for him, for the human man he had once been, instead she felt only relief and pity before her attention was once again completely grasped by the jewel and she stared at it in wonder.

In those moments she saw the Shikon as it should be, as it once was. As its lights pulsed more rapidly it became her world, her future, and she saw the future of those she cared for in its surface.

Sango and Miroku would marry in the spring, a time of new beginnings and rebirth and at their wedding they would speak of her and how much they missed her. They named their first son Kohaku and their daughter Kagome. Together they would revitalize Sango's clan, teaching her ways to others who wished to learn and together they would tell their children of their adventure. Those children would grow and love their parents, never forgetting their tales and would one day along with their respective spouses assume the name Higurashi in honor of the miko who had meant so very much to their mother and father. Unbeknownst to her she had befriended her own great grandparents many times removed.

Kirara would stay with them, protecting them until the day that youkai parted from this world, ushered off to live in another realm. A world with red skies where youkai roamed free and wild, and eventually were forgotten. There she would meet others of her kind, find a mate, raise a family and teach them of honor and values, of partnership with humans. She would live on and think of them daily, her heart missing her companions and her mind knowing it was for the best.

Kaede would die in the summer, her weathered face wreathed in a smile as she cradled a young toddler with Sango's face and Miroku's eyes who called her grandmother. They would place her ashes next to Kikyou's resting place and her spirit would watch over the shrine for centuries to come.

Shippou would grow into a fine youkai his young body maturing, his mind sharpening. He would claim a small village as his home, not too far from Sango and Miroku and yet far enough to live alone with his pain. Her heart cried out at the anguish he would face at her loss, for she could tell in each future she was no longer with them, this battle would claim her life and he would suffer. Yet all was not lost for her kit would be happy. He would marry the young girl Mayu that he had befriended in a village they passed through. They would love each other deeply for forty years though she was unable to give him children until eventually one warm fall night she would fall asleep in his arms and never wake up. In time as his grief over his beloved's death faded he too would pass into that other world. Eventually he would find Kirara and then a young kitsune girl who would give him many children, the first girl he too would name for her.

Then she glimpsed InuYasha in the flowing pool of time. He would take her death the hardest, seeing it as another personal failure, his inability to keep those he loved alive. They would all return to Kaede's and settle down, a year passing before they each went their ways, distant from each other and yet always in touch. All except for InuYasha. He would leave as dawn approached without saying goodbye, her old backpack slung over his shoulders as he disappeared into the mist. They would never see him again, would always pray for his safety and wish for his return. He would move across Japan, never settling, always fighting, his life a never ending battle until he collapsed one day upon the ground. By chance Sesshoumaru would find him, would seemingly take pity upon him and drag him back to the west by his hair.

There they would battle when he awoke, would fight until InuYasha could no longer move, until Sesshoumaru informed him that finally he was worthy of his blood. There in a clearing created by their destructive powers they would finally find peace with each other. Together they would journey deeper into the west and in time InuYasha would grow close to his brother, would become a general in his army and a trusted advisor. He would never marry or mate, never love another woman as he had loved them, would never sire a child. He too would pass over with Sesshoumaru into that other world, and he would live out his years helping his brother set order to his lands. Sesshoumaru would watch as he himself stayed the same and yet InuYasha aged rapidly for one of his kind, his unwillingness to open his heart weakening his blood and aging him faster. Finally when his appearance was ragged, his body that of a man close to his seventieth year he would leave once again and seek his death amongst the youkai that roamed the world. He would pass from that world into the world beyond, leaving behind only the Tessaiga which he bequeathed to his brother.

Fat tears poured from her eyes at the futures set before her, so much happiness and pain so many beginnings and ends and she would not see any of them. Her journey ended here she knew and her time was waning. The light began to fade from her eyes, the world steadily growing darker as unconsciousness slowly worked its way across her senses. Mustering the last of her strength she turned her dimming eyes towards her friends.

"I love you; I love you all so much." She whispered to them, her voice carrying across the clearing as their eyes narrowed in confusion before widening with denial, they recognized a goodbye when their heard one.

"Kagome…" Her name was a whisper, a plea, a denial, a prayer. Not one of them wanted to accept the truth that she was fading before their eyes. She could feel it herself, her existence slipping from her with each breath, growing dimmer with each sluggish heart beat and yet in contrast with her fading the jewel seemed to grow brighter, to shimmer with more strength with each raspy breath she took. She was dieing and it was flourishing. Eventually she grew so dim and it so bright that they could not see once without the other, the light so blinding now with its intensity that they were forced to cover their eyes to keep their sight.

Then rapidly the light began to fade, dieing twice as quick as it had come, until eventually the others watched in amazement as the jewel grew dark, with only a tiny flicker of flame like light beneath its surface. Then suddenly that too winked out of existence. Panicking they whirled to face the place where she had rest only to find her body gone, the ground covered in her blood.

They stood bewildered there. Her body was gone, her blood the only trace that she was there to begin with. They were left only with their own suspicions and the empty haunting silence of the woods around them. InuYasha in his desperation dug deep into the snow and then the ground beneath that. He would dig until his claws snapped and his hands bled, always convinced that if he just dug a little further, went a little deeper she would be there waiting for him. Eventually the others would drag him off, wiping their own tears as they shakily made their way back towards Kaede's village and home.

——————

She lightly soaped her skin with the softly scented bath gel that she favored, the familiar scent of apple blossoms and vanilla soothing her senses as her hands gently mapped her body, fingertips hesitating as they encountered her many scars. The one across her upper arm where Kohaku had slashed her once long ago, the claw marks from InuYasha while they were inside Kaguya's castle, the starburst where Mistress Centipede had first ripped the jewel from her body. Her hands roamed her skin finding those and many others, scars she could remember and scars she could not. She had too many to know where they all came from, too many battles, too much running and fighting had made sure of that.

Then as her hand brushed slowly up across the topside of her breast and directly over her heart she encountered another scar that she remembered all too well. It wasn't very large in size, in all actuality it was one of the neater scars that she possessed, yet it held some of the greatest significance to her. Nestled directly on her heart was a perfect circle of almost glittery pink flesh, the place where the Shikon had reentered her body. It looked almost like a tattoo so perfect was the circle and so clear was the pink; yet she knew the truth of it. It was a scar through and through, a physical representation of the Shikon within her body, the proof that power left an undeniable mark.

She could feel it within herself now, a humming in her veins, a twinkling laughter in the back of her mind, a second heartbeat overlapping her own at night when she slept. The steady thrum of power sleeping in her veins was more than apparent to her senses. She often wondered how she could sense the jewel now and not back when she was younger. It was, she mused, probably due to the awakening of her powers and her own sense of self-awareness. She had realized early on in her adventure that some part of her had always felt the jewel inside of her yet in her ignorance she had assumed that it was a normal every day feeling.

Oh how very wrong she had been.

She remembered the feel of it being ripped from her, how her then whole soul had cried out for its return, how everyday after that she had awoken feeling less than what she had always been. Then Kikyou had been resurrected and her soul fractured and the feeling had only grown worse. Eventually she had grown accustomed to it, or as accustomed one could grow to no longer being a whole person. Yet the one thing she had never been able to fully cope with had been those first few moments when she would wake up in the morning, where her body and brain were just coming online and for a moment everything was alright and then suddenly it would hit, 'Oh something is missing. I'm not all here.' Those moments were always the hardest to deal with.

Sighing she realized that she had wasted entirely too much time in the bath and so she finished up a bit quicker than she would have liked and stepped from the tub, wrapped securely in a towel and her mind once again occupied with thoughts of the past. It had been her screams of agony that had prompted her family to fly with all haste into the well house, screams she did not remember creating. One minute her world had been filled with the snowy white of the battle field that was slowly growing dimmer and then in the next she had been in utter complete darkness. When she had awoke once again it had been to the feelings of unholy pain coursing through her body, a soft mattress beneath her body, and a sense of bewilderment as to why she wasn't dead.

Souta had crept inside the room then, the tray in his hands crashing to the floor at the sight of her awake and pain filled form as his now slightly deeper voice cried out for their mother. The elder woman had rushed up the stairs with uncharacteristic haste and it had been after a sob filled reunion and bandage check that she had finally managed to find out the entire story. Three nights before her screams had jerked them all harshly out of sound sleep and sent them hurtling frantically towards the well house. Confused and frightened they had discovered her bloody and disheveled form slouched in the bottom of the well.

It had been her mother's quick thinking that had gotten her out of the well shaft in relatively one piece. They had bundled her into the house between them and had set up a sort of triage center in her room so that once finished they would not have to move her overly much. At first she had been informed there had been much debate as to whether or not they should take her to the hospital. Surprisingly enough it had been Souta that had informed them of the danger of such actions. Since her wounds were likely to be youkai in origin it would prompt many unanswerable questions and really the last thing they needed were doctors or the police snooping around the shrine since they were liable to suspect her of involvement with the yakuza. Instead they had tended her best they could, her mother and grandfather changing bandages and cleaning wounds while Souta fetched everything from towels to needles and hot water.

It had been slow going after that to get things back to normal, or as normal as things would ever be for her. She had been weak for far longer than she cared to admit and it had been a long road to get her body functioning properly after she was finally able to get out of bed again. Eventually she had taken over the duties of the shrine; something that she would have once balked at but now seemed a perfect fit for her, after all university was far beyond her reach now. It had been after a trip on shrine business to another shrine in a neighboring city that things had once again changed forever.

The city had been unsettling, filled with high levels of spiritual energy that she had not felt since her time in the feudal era, yet it felt human and not youkai in origin. Her business concluded she had wondered around the city aimlessly, taking in the sights and sounds, absorbing the culture that for so long now she had been separated from. It was strange for her to adjust to her own time now in some ways; she had become so used to the culture of half millennia ago that her own was now foreign. Things were much more complicated in the past and yet so much simpler. She had been staring into a local shop window, watching as a small child tugged her mother around when she had felt the power spike.

Unable to resist she had turned in the direction her senses had screamed at, the power tugging at her until she had no choice but to investigate. A stranger to that part of town she had woven in and out of the crowds like a native, her mind focused on follow the energy signal with the determination of a blood hound. She half walked and half jogged for what seemed like hours, until early afternoon sank in to early evening, the setting sun flashing blood red across the landscape before she finally stopped. Across the street, directly in front of her stood a house, it appear to be abandoned and in desperate need of repairs and yet she had known that something sinister was inside. The building radiated with an unnatural aura that set her teeth on edge and the hair on the back of her neck aquiver, there was no way in hell she was going in there.

Instead she had settled herself casually against the side of a nearby building, out of the way of any passersby and out of the range of the dimly glowing street lights that were just now beginning to click on. It wasn't until night was fully upon her that there had been any movement in the area around the house. The front door had clicked open and from her place in the shadows she had observed as a surprisingly large amount of people had shuffled out. Her attention had first been caught by a rather petite elderly woman who moved like a warrior and possessed the stalking gait of a panther. It was as her eyes flickered to observe the rest of the troop that her gaze, her attention, her very being it seemed was instantly arrested by a single figure.

He was small was her first thought, taller than the woman who had grabbed her attention but still on the short side. His features were delicate and yet seemed rugged at the same time, a certain sense of harshness flirting with his jaw line. Covered like he was in the black cape that shrouded his figure she was unable to fully get an accurate picture of his body yet she sensed great and terrible strength. His physical size was not all that impressive but she had long ago learned that the physical body was not a true reflection of power. It was in the aura that true size mattered when it came to talks of power and this youkai had aura to spare. It whipped around him like a violent snow storm, curling around his face and holding his hair aloft in its gravity deifying state, the black, blue and white strands practically vibrated with energy. The power she felt was great and yet in some ways wrong, as if there were forces residing inside of his body that did not belong and she could not stop the shiver of unease that wracked her frame.

The group that he had exited with was standing in a small cluster talking quietly amongst themselves and yet he was at a distance. She was sure that it was by his own design and not by theirs that he remained so apart from them. It was in that moment that he turned, facing for the first time completely in her direction and she barely suppressed a gasp as his eyes impossibly found her own across the way. They were a beautiful ruby color, one that for a split second reminded her of Naraku's before she shook the thought away. She saw the instant that he fully registered her presence and the fact that she was observing him, saw the way that his eye's narrowed and his hand twitched towards his side.

In those seconds she saw her death and knew that if she stayed she would have to hope that fate was as generous with her life for a second time as it had been the first. So instead she did something that she had sworn she would never do again; she ran. She fled as if the very hounds of hell were upon her heels. Her pace was break-neck but she refused to slow, using all of the strength that she had gained in her travels and her time training upon the shrine grounds. She kept going until she finally hit the crowds that filled the streets of the inner city, until she could wave down a passing taxi and get the hell out of that place. Then just after she had told the driver her destination and was about to step into the car something compelled her to glance back, to look over her shoulder and unable to help herself she did.

He was there, not a handle full of yards away from her, illuminated by an overhead street light as the waves of people effortlessly parted around him. With everything and everyone going around him his eyes were focused solely upon her form and for some odd reason it took her breath away. Time stood still in those moments, her heartbeat slowed and everything around her seemed to still. Then the muscles in his jaw firmed and he seemed to gather himself and just that quickly the spell was broken, time caught up with itself and everything was once again in motion. Diving into the backseat of the taxi she slammed and locked the door, telling the driver to go and heaved a deep sigh of relief. The only reason she peeked out of the back window she told herself, was to make sure he was not following her. The only reason that her eyes stayed locked upon his until the distance separating them was so great she could no longer see him was she had to admit to herself, because she did not have a choice.

The next week of her life was a miserably long affair full of endless hours of guard duty and rather copious amounts of coffee. She would not be caught unprepared and allow some unknown apparition to harm her family because of her own undying sense of curiosity. Yet when the week had passed and there was not even a flicker of that aura within miles of her home she slowly relaxed, still watchful of her surroundings yet not jumping at every sound, hearing footsteps around ever corner, and feeling eyes on her at all hours of the day.

It was in this way that a month passed her by. A month filled with high spiritual readings, with her being forced to kill invading youkai three times as often as normal, and with the sudden appearance of insects that apparently only she could see. In a way those bugs made her more wary than anything else with the knowledge that they were visible to only her and that they could attach themselves to her family with out them knowing about it. So instead she fused small charms with her own reikai and hid them in things that her family carried everywhere. Her mother's locket, her brother's watch, and her grandfather's newly acquired cane. Then one evening as dusk was settling across her shrine and she was nearing the end of her daily cleaning rituals she felt it again. That hair raising aura that had so captivated her senses that night. Finally after a month of nothing he had appeared once again.

Swiftly she moved, her stance shifting into a more solid one that would allow her movements fluidity. The broom that she held was raised and clasped firmly by her waist reminiscent to the manner one would hold a katana. With her powers the broom could be deadly, she could infuse a pencil with her ki if she so chose. Body tense she scanned her surroundings, eyes shifting over the darkened street and empty sidewalk that greeted her from her place towards the bottom of her steps. She could feel him and yet she could not see him. It would be unwise she decided to linger outside of the shrine grounds for longer than she had to. While her barrier was more than able to kill weaker apparitions she knew that someone of his caliber would fell only the slightest twinge, like a flea biting a twelve story dog. Yes she had some experience with that as well. There was a small chance that the inherit purity of her land would aid her some if she was forced to battle him.

Carefully she moved backwards, inching up the steps, her years living there enabling her to instinctively place her feet in the best positions as she carefully backed away from the road, sure to never expose her back to the direction his aura shone the brightest. It was after she had gained some elevated height from making it about halfway up the stairs that something slammed into her spiritual self with force. She could feel it, could feel his presence intertwined with it and yet she knew that it was not wholly him, this power was familiar to her in some ways and yet so unlike anything she had ever encountered.

It wormed its way around her, poking and prodding her soul and aura like an inquisitive child. It was then that she finally grasped what it was she had encountered and her discovery froze her in place. It was a mental invasion unlike anything she had ever felt. After being a victim of both Menoumaru and Tsubaki's cruel machinations she was no stranger to the burning pain of a mental attack, the instinctual feeling that something was trying to take her over, consume her mind, and bend her to its will.

Horribly enough she found herself strangely thankful to those painful and scaring incidents in her life, the ones that continued to give her nightmares to this day. Those instances had changed her, after being forced to almost kill a friend under the control of someone else she had obsessed over it. She had forced herself to strengthen her mind, to build her barriers stronger and higher than ever before in an effort to never allow herself to be taken over again.

In those moments she knew that fleeing this time would serve no other purpose than weakening her quicker, she would not escape this thing through flight. It was almost awe inspiring in its abilities, seeming to almost become angry at her defiance as she forced herself to calm and focus on strengthening her mental stronghold. To build the walls higher and thicker. It struck her quicker, harder, and almost too fast for her to keep up with and she could feel the sweat beginning to bead on her forehead from the physical strain of fighting a mental battle. This force was so much stronger than the others who had violated her mind, Tsubaki and Menoumaru were novices compared to this entity. It seemed as if it lived for mind breaking, as if its only purpose was the art of mind control.

She was not sure how long she would be able to hold out. It attack her barriers from so many different direction, forcing her to make piss poor repairs and leaving her defenses at less than optimal strength. Every time she would move to repair something, to guard a memory or a thought it would attack another. She could not keep up for much longer. Finally it became too much for her and she knew she would have no choice but to attack. She could switch to offensive and pray that in the seconds it took for her to gather her power and expel it her assaulter would not over take her completely. It was risky, but it was the only plan that she had.

Yet her hope proved worthless for just as she gathered her energy, the invader slammed against her barriers with more force than ever before, completely knocking the breath from her body and sending her crashing down to land flat on her back against the stone steps. She wavered, her body painful to move and yet she was determined. Groggily she gained her knees; her head lifting slightly towards the sky and that was when she saw him. Standing calmly atop the telephone pole that rest far across the street, a piece of cloth clutched firmly in his hand he was incased in lavender light and staring directly at her. Her sense of wonder was cut short as another blast of force attacked her, collapsing her knees out from underneath her and sending her rolling down a few steps before she was able to stop herself.

She groaned, the sound weaker than she wanted to admit as her back bowed up from the ground at the sheer power of whatever was attacking her, resisting it in her current state seemed futile and yet she refused to give in so easily.

'My family,' her thoughts were desperate, 'I have to protect them…'

The last she saw was the appearance of black boot in her peripheral vision before all went black.

Unbeknownst to her Hiei studied her slumped figure. The small onna had intrigued him from the moment he had laid eyes on her outside that damned dimensional house. He had felt her eyes on him first, the unsettling sense that someone was watching, the one he had long ago learned was normally a precursor to violence and death. His eyes had quickly scoured the open space around the building, finding nothing until briefly out of the corner of his eye he had caught a glimpse of white fabric shifting in the shadows across the way.

He caught a glimpse of her then, her eyes a large luminous blue in a face that had paled underneath his scrutiny. He had narrowed his gaze and zeroed in on her face, the muscles in his arm and hand twitching with the subconscious desire to reach for his katana. She was watching them he could tell, hers' were the eyes that he had felt in the shadows. She had fled from him then, her legs carrying her from the area with a speed that was normally associated with one who was used to fleeing death.

Amused vaguely and not one to discount a possible danger he followed her, staying a set distance behind her on purpose. With his speed he could have stolen her life and been long gone before her blood had even cooled, instead he used is to calmly follow the onna taking the time to observe her. Her physical appearance held no real interest for him at that moment; he noted only the sheer facts such as her coloring and her size. Instead he pursued her clothing, searching the set and fall of the fabric for possible hidden weapons, looking for anything that might pose a threat. He watched the way she wove her way through the crowds, one with and yet apart from the people around her.

He was so deep in his own observations that he almost missed the burn of the Jagan awakening upon his forehead. The eye pulsed and he could feel the lid begin to raise as he halted himself directly underneath a street light, unconcerned with the mortals who flowed around him, all of his attention being split between the onna currently entering a car and the pulsating power of the eye's awakening. In those moments his eyes connected with his current prey as she stood frozen by the door and in those seconds the Jagan flared fully to life, it took all of his restraint to keep the eye from burning through its ward and exposing itself to all those who looked. It was only when the contact between them was broken, first by the closing of the door and then by the sheer distance between them did the Jagan finally calm itself.

Hiei was puzzled to say the least about the unnatural reaction, puzzled and slightly angry. The thought of some unknown factor affecting one of the weapons in his personal arsenal displeased him greatly and he was determined to find out the reason behind it all. Unfortunately it was around a month later before he had been able to find the onna again. A month used to clean up another of Koenma's messes, a month used to track her down, and a month that brought him to where he stood now looking down at her collapsed form. Her display of mental prowess was rather impressive for someone of such an inferior race, he admitted to himself rather grudgingly; after all he was not one to discount strength no matter the form.

Her ability to hold back the invasion of the Jagan was stunning and the gathering of her powers had set his teeth on edge along with sending the eye clamoring for more. It was insistent in its desire to infiltrate her, to delve into her mind and to rip away her barriers. So he had given into his own sense of curiosity and unleashed the mind breaker on her, pummeling her defenses until she collapsed from the sheer strain. Reaching down he grabbed her lightly by the back of the neck, lifting her unresisting frame up to his eye level, ignoring the joyous clamoring of the Jagan as their skin to skin contact reinforced the already created bond, allowing the eye to shift even deeper into her subconscious with ease.

He took in her appearance fully for the first time. The way the bangs of her long raven hair fluttered in her face, the delicately veined lids that he knew hide eyes of piercing blue. The soft pink of her lips and the delicate arch of her brow. She was passable, for a ningen he thought, slightly unsettled by the twinge of appreciation he felt for her features. Snarling slightly he released his hold on her, watching dispassionately as she crumpled to the ground at his feet and ignored the displeased vibrating of the Jagan as their physical bond was broken. The eye already knew all there was to know about the girl, taking the information into itself and with holding it from him, something it had never done before.

This onna was causing things to progress in a manner that he found displeasing and as such she warranted watching. Without sound he flittered up the stairs, ignoring the slight twinge of purity that infused the lands as he settled in a tree with a decent view of the grounds, if he was going to observe the situation he would at least be comfortable. As for the onna he thought as his gaze found her still unmoving form on the staircase, she would garner no aide from him. After all if she was not strong enough to survive a night on a set of stairs then he was doing the world a favor by aiding in her removal.

————————

Shaking off the memories of the past she made her way to her room carefully closed the curtains and set about getting dressed for bed. Sleep had become a bit of an ordeal for her ever since she had awakened that night on the stairs. Every night without fail sleep would take her and eventually as the night wore on she would be plagued with that horrible dream and every night it would end the same. At first that dream had been all there was, simply repeating itself over and over, the facts never changing, the ending always the same.

Then as time flowed on it had changed, showed her things she had almost forgotten, showed her things she desperately wanted to forget. The dreams were no longer always dream-like. Sometimes they were memories, a strange mix of the life she used to have and another that she had never seen before.

She had remembered what it felt like to have the jewel ripped from her side, to taste sheer fear when doused with acid. Then she had experience the feeling of watching a dragon rage across an arena, felt the crippling pain off her right arm, smelt the seared flesh. She experienced anew the love she had held for Shippou, the tenderness she had always felt for the poor deformed hanyou Jinenji. Tasted the rage of being thwarted by a young man in green and the bitterness as she watched a shining gem fall from a cliff and into a river far below.

At night when she slept she lived a duel life, half herself and half someone she had never met. Half of her was the purity that cloaked her soul and the other a darkness that was so very encompassing. Sighing she flopped down on her mattress, hair fanning out across her pillow as she stared up at her ceiling. Somewhere inside of her she knew where those memories and dreams came from. The babe that she so willingly wrapped herself around was the same youkai who she had seen at that house, the same one who had so ruthlessly perpetrated that mental attack, he was younger in that dream but the similarities were unmistakable.

At one point she realized that what she was seeing, what she was living was a mixture of both her life and his. She saw and felt so many terrible things, so many awful memories. There was so much pain and anger, so much bitterness and blood inside of him. He had slaughtered and raged, had massacred, murdered, and stolen. He was so dark and yet she knew that he was not evil. She had seen evil, had tasted it, been possessed by it, had destroyed it. She knew evil and he was not it. Instead he was darkness, a purple black flame that burned and raged and yet was not a true destroyer. He killed to quiet the pain, the anger and bitterness that had become such a part of him. He killed because it was the only way he knew to keep on living.

She knew that as a miko, who promoted equality, peace and non-aggression she should hate him, should hate the things he had done, the youkai he had become and yet she was unable to do so. As a warrior she understood the necessity of some of his actions, the kill or be killed mentality of the world that he had been born into. Yet as a woman, someone who had tasted the hurt and bitterness of being unaccepted for who she was, who had been rejected and toyed with she felt compassion for him. She raged at the people who would abandon a babe for being born, she cried great tears over the life he had been forced to live, and stood in awe of his strength and determination to survive. He was a miraculous creature that mystified her to no ends.

Slowly she rose from her place on the bed and walked towards her window, carefully pushed aside the curtains and with a light tug forced the window all the way open before going back to her place upon the bed. It was she supposed her own way of welcoming him inside, of letting him no that despite their differences and despite how many other doors had been closed on him hers would forever be open. All he had to do was take the invitation. She closed her eyes and with a final sigh drifted off to sleep, ready to face the dreams that were to come.

Hiei found it hard to look away from the picture that she made, spread out across her bed as she was, that window open so very invitingly. It would be so easy to slip inside that room, so easy to wrap his hands around her neck and watch as the light faded from her eyes. So easy to feel the slick heat of her blood coating his katana and his hands. Yet he knew that as much as he fantasized about the killing, her life was one he would not steal. Just a few months ago perhaps he would not have hesitated as he did now. Perhaps then he would have crushed her spark in his hands, watched her soul flicker and die as her life bled from her.

Perhaps.

Now though things had changed, the situation had changed, and in some ways he admitted to himself, he had even changed. It had started he knew with that almost dream like vision the Jagan had forced on him while he was perched in a nearby tree top. It hit him hard, harder than it would have he supposed if he was used to dreaming, but with the fact that he only slept when his energy was extremely low he was rather unaccustomed to things such as dreaming. Suddenly and without preamble he had been thrust into a hazy half world, feeling himself falling into darkness with the feeling of being surrounded by hands causing the heart he did not know he had to pound in his chest. He had felt the harsh pain as his hip was bitten, the searing and all too familiar burn of teeth rending flesh and could only watch as a small orb went flying, feeling deep within himself that he was no longer whole.

The images shifted after that, assaulting him with the long gone days of his misbegotten youth and experiences that he knew were not his own. It did not take him long to come to the same conclusion as Kagome, that those dream like visions were of a life that belonged to her. He was more than displeased about being forced to live her life through hazy dreams, of being forced to experience things that he had no control over and for a while his anger was explosive. Then the Jagan had forced another memory dream upon him, except that this one was different.

It was the day of his exile, his birth and his damnation. He remembered it all so clearly, the woman who had tossed him away, the pained denials of his mother as she pleaded for his return. It was all just how he remembered, except for that scream, that harsh denial of his fate that rung out across the frozen wasteland that was his true home. As his body passed the side of the island he saw her, blue eyes aflame with grief and denial and a deep burning anger. Then when she flung herself off the cliff and after him, wrapped herself around him despite the flames that burned her he knew he was lost. When she used her body to shield him from the trees he knew that he would never be able to bring her death. Not this onna who had so willingly died for him, even if it was just a dream. No one would ever know of it, he would never utter a word, but she had gained his respect in those dreams, a respect that he was so unused to giving.

So for the first time in his life he let his anger go, let it flow from him like air instead of being driven away by katana and blood. Later he admitted to himself that one moment was the beginning of his downfall, the starting point of his change, a difference in himself that he in some ways despised but was helpless against.

Time passed after that and he found himself constantly on the shrine grounds, his body long used to the twinge of purity that surrounded the lands. He found himself watching her, shadowing her movements and eyeing her surroundings for possible danger. He knew it was unlike him, he was no protector but he found the idea of her being destroyed abhorrent for some reason. Perhaps it was because she provided him with a form of entertainment, with something to pass his time with.

He refused to acknowledge that she fascinated him.

——————

He fascinated her. It was as simple as that. His presence was something that she had become used to, something that she found herself looking forward to in the mornings and wishing for at night. She continued to leave the window open in silent invitation yet to the best of her knowledge he had yet to take her up on it. She knew him so well, knew his past and his present, knew his thought process. She knew things about him that she would have never learned if it wasn't for the dream meld that had developed. She knew the unspoken secrets that he had kept his whole life, she knew his friends though she knew he would never admit to them being such. She knew about his sister, she knew about Yukina.

She knew all of these things and yet she wanted to know more, her desire to know him in the flesh was quickly becoming an obsession, a desperate need that she could not explain. Terrifyingly enough she found that she wanted him, wanted him in ways that she could not understand. It went beyond the physical, beyond the ache in her body that scared her so. How could you desire someone you had never even spoken to? She wanted his conversation, his voice; she wanted his scent in her sheets, his skin on hers. She wanted to call him by name and to hear him say her own. She wanted him in ways she had no business wanting him.

It frightened her, this deep-seated want that went beyond the twinge of desire she had always felt for InuYasha the hanyou she had believed she would spend her life loving. Now she feared that she had come to love this youkai in a way far different than she had the dog eared boy of her youth. She knew things about him, things that should have disgusted her but instead only made the want that much stronger. Her dreams took another turn, still filled with memories and past experiences, still filled with all she had grown accustomed to and yet now they were different. Now she dreamed of snow and fire, of hot hands and cool mouths, of flesh on flesh and dark desires. Things that she knew about but had never experienced.

She dreamed of taking and of being taken, of love and lust and rage all rolled into one. Occasionally she would dream of soft words and light touches, of possession and warmth. Slowly those dreams enchanted her till the point that all of the other nightmares and visions no longer matter. Till she slept only so that she could dream. He felt it as well she could tell. The flux of his aura that grew steadily closer to her window as time passed gave that fact away. She knew in those moments that the sharing was two-sided, that he experienced her as she did him.

Hope bloomed in her chest, the flower of possibilities firmly taking root within her soul. He lived her as she lived him, perhaps just perhaps he could one day come to feel for her as she did for him. She knew it would not be easy, she knew the way was long and arduous, and that love was an emotion that he had buried so deeply he truly believed he was no longer capable of it. She knew that if the time came and she managed to win that love that all others would pale in comparison. His love and protection, his desire and possession were dark flames of pure emotion, devastating in their intensity, burning those that were unprepared, who thought themselves strong enough to withstand but were fooled by their own arrogance.

She yearned to feel that burn, to hold that flame close to her and feed it with her very soul. She wanted to show him she could be worthy of his love, that she would never betray him, would fight for him, would die for him in life like she did in her dreams. It was unsettling, this surge of emotions, this unbridled need for a youkai she had never spoken to but she found as time went on that she cared less and less about that. So what if they had never had an actual conversation? She knew things about him and him about her that would never have to be spoken of, things that hurt too bad to vocalize were now common knowledge between them.

Hiei felt it; he could practically taste her emotions in the air of the shrine. Her happiness at his presence, her yearning when he had been gone, all of her riotous emotions were free in the air for him to inhale and bask in. Yet out of them all it was her desire and the underlying sense of tenderness that drew him ever closer to the window. The window that she always left so invitingly open. He had never wanted love, had never held a desire to taste the emotion. It made a warrior weak dulled his blade and his concentration, neither of which he appreciated. But with her the desire was there, the want was present and as much as he hated it the need was as well.

He did his best to resist, did his utmost to stay far from her, to not give in to the dark desire within himself. His self control was to be praised but even he had his limits. He reached them and could only watch as they shattered sometime after her dreams took a turn for the erotic. He smelled her first that night, his perch only a few trees away from her window when the scent drifted to him. Apple blossoms, vanilla and sweet musk, the scent of heat and lust. It was finally too much for him, too many days sitting silently by as he was assaulted with her desire, her utter want.

Quickly, too fast for the eye to see he moved, already in her room and staring down at her writhing form before the dust from his departure settled. Again he though of killing her, of tasting her blood on his tongue, of taking her existence and ending. Against his will his thoughts changed, his desire forefront in his mind as he though of tasting her in different ways, of burying his tongue in her heat of letting her warm him in ways he had never thought possible.

It was almost too easy; a flick of his rest sent the covers flying, his elevated body temperature replacing the warmth before her sleeping body could register its departure. Her clothes were simple; a flick of a wrist had them shredded, her body resting on the tattered remains, his own clothes making a dark pile upon the floor. He crawled into bed with her, hissing when her bare skin touched his own. Slowly his hands rose, caressing the skin of her thighs as he parted them gently. He would have her so out of her mind with pleasure by the time she awoke she would not think twice about accepting him.

He gazed down at her, taking in the sight of her so open and helpless so pale and pink. Unable to stop himself his tongue darted out, dragging itself across the length of her, dipping slightly into her center before moving upwards to flirt with her button. The taste of her almost burned him and no longer resisting he did it again. He felt the moment she came awake, felt her confusion and her momentary fear, his eyes leaving their avid perusal of her soaking core to lock with hers across the expanse of her naked frame.

"Hiei?" His name was a question a plea, one that he found he was unable to deny. Almost feral in his intensity he scaled her body, dragging his skin against hers, letting her feel his heat until finally he was covering her completely looking down at her in the cage of his arms.

"You dream of me." His words were a statement, a truth being spoken and not a question. She could only nod slowly in response, her fear and confusion fading with the knowledge that it was him between her legs.

"It will become reality…now." His lips swooped down on hers, his tongue prying her mouth open before sweeping inside. He dominated her, his senses flooded with her taste, swallowing the moan that ripped itself unbidden from her throat.

Her legs shifted open further and welcomed him into the cradle of her thighs, unable to stay still when he was flooding her with such heat. His mouth left hers, tracing fire through her veins as it worked its way down her throat, fangs scraping her delicate flesh seducing shivers from her form.

He worked his way down her body, nipping, kissing sucking as he went, collecting his prize in sweat and sweet moans. She had dreamed of him, fantasized about him and now he would make it reality for them both. Without preamble his lips wrapped themselves around her rosy-tipped breast, sucking the nipple deep inside and lashing it with his tongue. Her moans were addictive; a drug to his senses, a new found addiction that he refused to fight. He would have her creamy and wet for him, begging for release.

His teeth worked her flesh, careful of his fangs but working her hard all the same. He was not a gentle youkai and his passion was as rough as he was. She was panting when he finally abandoned her breasts, his mouth attacking her stomach, his hands taking its place upon her breasts, fingers torturing already sensitive nipples to even more painful points. He roughly mapped the contours of her stomach with his tongue, the place where his offspring would take root if he so desired it. The thought froze him momentarily, never before had he though of offspring, he was not the family sort but the thought of her swelling with his child, of telling the entire world that she belonged to him was briefly appealing.

Shaking it from his thoughts he continued ever downwards until he was once again where he had begun. His tongue flickered out, flittering with her button for a split second before it plunged itself deep within her. Giving her no time to adjust he assaulted her with lips and teeth and tongue, his hands leaving her breasts to join in the fray. She was moaning, and writhing, forcing him to place a hand upon her stomach to keep her still.

The fingers of his other hand dipped inside, stretching her, filling her like she had longed for. It was not enough, not for either of them but he would bring her pleasure before he took her, such pleasure that she would never doubt who she belonged to. His conviction running deep he almost faltered when he felt the Jagan burst into awareness on his forehead, the eye burning through its ward in seconds. Startled he went to pull back, the accessory was volatile at the best of times and violent at the worst but the flare of pleasure that rippled up his spine and the sound of the onna below him crying out softly as her orgasm washed over them both in a continuous loop.

The eye was connecting them, echoing the pleasure between them and intensifying it. Growling he made his way back up her body, capturing her lips for another deep kiss as he positioned himself at her entrance, unable to bear not being part of her for a moment long, of not feeling her wet heat wrap around him, burning him so deliciously. The first thrust was exquisite, her pain as he broke through her barrier a biting pleasure to him. He would teach her the beauty of pain.

Their lips parted, his mouth taking residence by her ear as he began to whisper to her, each word punctuated by a deep thrust of his hips that threatened to steal her breath away.

"You dream of me from now onto death onna. When you sleep you see only me, feel only me, and taste only me." His word were sharp, his need riding him hard as he fought for the self control that he had always prided himself on over the years, he would not be stripped apart by this slip of a female.

"Hiei!" Her moan was want and lust given form and it snapped that last thread of control that he had managed to hang onto.

He rode her hard, fighting to stave off his climax as her feeble claws pierced his skin, the wounds healing almost instantly but the slight bit adding that much more pleasure to the situation. The Jagan radiated their feelings between them, forcing one to experience both the pleasure and the pain of the other. It was overwhelming, an inferno of sensation that he found himself lost in. When the pleasure began to build heavily in her spine he knew that it would be over soon. He rutted deeper, hitting spots within her that he vowed to become better acquainted with later.

When the pleasure spiked and rained down on her the connection between them forced it upon him as well, and his own pleasure mixed with her ecstasy forced him over the edge. He came with a deep echoing growl, hot jets of seed coating her womb and sending her tumble over the edge once again, the pleasure cycling back between them and making his own orgasm that much more intense. Shaking his head to clear the unexpected spots from his eyes he gazed down at her. The pleasure had been too much for her slight frame, the strain of it sending her into unconciousness with him still buried deep within her body.

Rolling onto his back he settled down with her on his chest, their bodies still connected as he thought of the situation. He was still unsure as to the cause of the Jagan's rather unhealthy obsession with her but it seemed as if the eye was not out to harm her. It had only forced them to share memories and pleasure; it had not taken the opportunities it had to destroy her mind. Instead it infiltrated her dreams, used her sleep as an opportunity to frolic freely in her subconscious.

He decided that he would keep the onna, he felt a rather large degree of possession for her as well and he was never one to let others play with his belongings. She had much to learn but he could find it in himself to be a teacher for her. For now though, he thought as her hips flexed against his and her body shifted with whatever dream unconciousness had given her, for now he would see how things went. Thrusting upwards slightly he was greeted with the sound of her soft sleep laden moan.

For now he would let her sleep and ensure that her dreams were of him and him alone.


End file.
